Squirrel Hill
Encyclopedia
Squirrel Hill is a residential neighborhood in the east end of Pittsburgh
, Pennsylvania
, United States
. The city officially divides it into two neighborhoods, Squirrel Hill North and Squirrel Hill South, but it is almost universally treated as a single neighborhood. As of the census
of 2000, there were 24,915 people, 10,499 households, and 5,198 families residing there.
and Schenley Park
, on the north by Shadyside
and Point Breeze, on the east by Frick Park
, and on the south by Greenfield
and the Monongahela River
. Most of Squirrel Hill lies in Pittsburgh's 14th Ward.
. The first recorded house was built by a soldier at nearby Fort Pitt
, Colonel James Burd, at a place called Summerset on the Monongahela River in 1760. Its first "business district" was the intersection of Brown's Hill Road and Beechwood Boulevard. In 1778, John Turner built his estate of Federal Hill nearby (along what is now Beechwood Boulevard). Squirrel Hill's next house was built by Ambrose Newton in the 1760s. This house is still standing and is located in Schenley Park
along Overlook Drive (near the ice skating rink).
The third house was built by Robert Neill around 1787 in what is now Schenley Park. This house still exists and is occasionally open to the public. The Neills owned 262 acres (1.1 km²) of land in the northern section of Schenley Park. In 1795, the Neills moved from this house to a location in what is now Market Square in downtown Pittsburgh, before they died. After they died, the house was handed down to two different people before it was sold to General James O'Hara
. O'Hara's granddaughter, Mary Schenley, gave the property to the city of Pittsburgh in 1889. For a time, in the house was rented out by the city to vacationers. However, by 1969, the house was in such poor condition that it was dismantled and rebuilt by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation
. It still exists and is only open for tours during the Vintage Grand Prix
in July.
Around 1820, William "Killymoon" Steward built one of the first tavern
/inns in the area. His tavern, located near the intersection of Beechwood and Brown's Hill Road, survived for over 100 years. Slowly, Squirrel Hill became a prosperous and affluent suburb. By the 1860s, the area along Fifth Avenue near Woodland Road had several mansions, including Willow Cottage. The cottage was built by the industrialist and civic leader Thomas M. Howe, a bank president and member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1851 to 1855. Though neglected for many years and almost torn down, Willow Cottage has recently undergone a $2.2 million restoration and renovation into a Chatham University gatehouse and guesthouse.
During the Civil War
, it was the site of a small redoubt
, Fort Squirrel Hill on Bigelow Street between Parade and Shields Streets, also known as Fort Chess or Fort Black.
Following the Civil War
several of Pittsburgh's richest families built multiple houses in the Woodland Road area between Fifth and Wilkins Avenues. Prior to 1868, the Squirrel Hill area was a part of Peebles Township. This changed in 1868 when the city of Pittsburgh
annexed the land. In 1869, a woman's college, the predecessor to Chatham University, was established nearby. Today, Chatham University owns several of these large houses. In 1869, the clubhouse of the Pittsburgh Golf Club was built at the new Schenley Park Golf Course
.
Over the course of the 19th century, the focus of Squirrel Hill shifted from its riverfront at the Monongahela River
to the area closest to Oakland
and Shadyside
. Former farm land such as the area known as the Murdoch Farms slowly developed as new development appeared in the area.
The growth of Squirrel Hill accelerated when an electric trolley
was installed in 1893. The trolley line ran via Forbes Avenue and Murray Avenue to its final destination in Homestead
. The trolley line facilitated the building of hundreds of houses for the middle management of local factories, especially on Shady and Denniston Avenues near Aylesboro. Despite its trolley line, Murray Avenue remained a dirt road until 1920. Murray Avenue carried three Pittsburgh Railways
trolley lines (#69 Squirrel Hill, #60 East Liberty-Homestead and #68 Homestead-Duquesne-Kennywood-McKeesport) until 1958 when the trolleys were replaced by buses.
Squirrel Hill grew even more with the opening of the Boulevard of the Allies
in 1927, providing a direct link to downtown Pittsburgh.
By the 1930s, most of the available land in Squirrel Hill had been filled.
Author Willa Cather
briefly made Squirrel Hill her home from 1901 to 1906. Residing on Murray Hill Avenue, Cather was the telegraph (wire desk) editor and drama critic for the newspaper, Pittsburgh Leader. She taught at Central High School in nearby Uptown
and later became the head of the English Department at Allegheny High School. Cather used Pittsburgh as the setting for several short stories that she wrote during her time there.
When Henry Clay Frick
died in 1919, he bequeathed 150 acre (0.607029 km²) of undeveloped land to the City of Pittsburgh for use as a public park. He provided a $2 million trust fund to assist with the maintenance of the park. Frick Park
on the eastern border of the Squirrel Hill neighborhood opened in 1927. Between 1919 and 1942, money from the trust fund was used to enlarge the park, increasing its size to almost 600 acres (2.4 km²).
In February 2004, Frick Park grew with the addition of the Nine Mile Run stream restoration area which flows to the Monongahela River
. The United States Army Corps of Engineers
is managing the restoration funded with $5 million in federal money and $2.7 million raised by the city.
Squirrel Hill's business area along Forbes and Murray avenues is known as "up street" (a contraction of "up the street") to several generations of children who have grown up the area over the past 40 years.
The neighborhood was the home of children's television host Fred Rogers.
Squirrel Hill is also home to the Church of the Redeemer, an inclusive and progressive Episcopal church.
in large numbers from Oakland
and the Hill District
. Many of them took up residence in rows of brick houses on the cross streets of Murray Avenue south of Forbes, such as Darlington Road, Bartlett Street, and Beacon Street. The neighborhood became the center of Jewish culture in the city, with kosher butcher shops, delicatessens, Jewish restaurants, bookstores, and designer boutiques. Several hundred Russian Jewish immigrants moved to the neighborhood in the 1990s.
Today about 40% of Squirrel Hill's residents are Jewish. According to a 2002 study by the United Jewish Federation, 33% of the Jewish population of greater Pittsburgh lives in Squirrel Hill and another 14% lives in the surrounding neighborhoods. The report states that "The stability of Squirrel Hill, a geographic hub of the Jewish community located within the city limits, is unique in North America
."
Most of Squirrel Hill is surrounded by a consecrated wall (an "eruv
" using telephone poles and wires as the "wall") which permits orthodox Jews to carry things like books and push strollers on the Sabbath. The eruvs boundaries are quite irregular and contain portions of other neighborhoods as well, with one writer noting that "an Orthodox Jew could carry something within the eruvs boundaries all the way from the north end of the Hot Metal Bridge to the intersection of Wilkins and South Dallas in Point Breeze." Squirrel Hill contains three Jewish day schools, affiliated with the Chabad
, Modern Orthodox
and Conservative
movements respectively. There are over twenty synagogue
s.
The Jewish community also offers two kosher restaurant
s (Milky Way and Dunkin Donuts at the corner of Forbes and Shady), a Jewish Community Center
, two kosher bakeries, Giant Eagle (on Beacon) and Sweet Tammy's, and an annual festival.
. The public
grade schools for the neighborhood are Colfax Accelerated Learning Academy (K-8) and Minadeo Elementary School (K-5). The public
high school for the neighborhood is Taylor Allderdice High School
. Squirrel Hill is also home to St. Edmund's Academy, a private Episcopalian elementary school, Chatham University (bordering Shadyside
), and parts of Carnegie Mellon University
. H.B. Davis Elementary School closed in 1980.
(City Council District 8).
Squirrel Hill South is represented on City Council by Douglas Shields
(City Council District 5).
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The city officially divides it into two neighborhoods, Squirrel Hill North and Squirrel Hill South, but it is almost universally treated as a single neighborhood. As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 24,915 people, 10,499 households, and 5,198 families residing there.
Geography
Squirrel Hill is located at 40.438072°N 79.922972°W. Squirrel Hill has zip codes 15217 and 15232, and is bordered on the west by OaklandOakland (Pittsburgh)
Oakland is the academic, cultural, and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and is Pennsylvania's third largest "Downtown". Only Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh can claim more economic and social activity than Oakland...
and Schenley Park
Schenley Park
Schenley Park is a large municipal park located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, between the neighborhoods of Oakland, Greenfield, and Squirrel Hill. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district...
, on the north by Shadyside
Shadyside (Pittsburgh)
Shadyside is a neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It has zip codes of both 15232 and 15206, and has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by the council member for District 8...
and Point Breeze, on the east by Frick Park
Frick Park
Frick Park is the largest municipal park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, covering .The park began when Henry Clay Frick, upon his death in 1919, bequeathed south of Clayton, his Point Breeze mansion . He also arranged for a $2 million trust fund for long-term maintenance for the park, which opened on...
, and on the south by Greenfield
Greenfield (Pittsburgh)
Greenfield is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is represented on by Doug Shields.Greenfield is a member of Pittsburgh's 15th Ward, which includes the neighborhoods of Greenfield and Four Mile Run. Greenfield is adjacent to the Pittsburgh neighborhoods of Hazelwood to...
and the Monongahela River
Monongahela River
The Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
. Most of Squirrel Hill lies in Pittsburgh's 14th Ward.
History
The growth and development of Squirrel Hill was initially focused on the riverfront along the Monongahela RiverMonongahela River
The Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
. The first recorded house was built by a soldier at nearby Fort Pitt
Fort Pitt (Pennsylvania)
Fort Pitt was a fort built at the location of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.-French and Indian War:The fort was built from 1759 to 1761 during the French and Indian War , next to the site of former Fort Duquesne, at the confluence the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River...
, Colonel James Burd, at a place called Summerset on the Monongahela River in 1760. Its first "business district" was the intersection of Brown's Hill Road and Beechwood Boulevard. In 1778, John Turner built his estate of Federal Hill nearby (along what is now Beechwood Boulevard). Squirrel Hill's next house was built by Ambrose Newton in the 1760s. This house is still standing and is located in Schenley Park
Schenley Park
Schenley Park is a large municipal park located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, between the neighborhoods of Oakland, Greenfield, and Squirrel Hill. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district...
along Overlook Drive (near the ice skating rink).
The third house was built by Robert Neill around 1787 in what is now Schenley Park. This house still exists and is occasionally open to the public. The Neills owned 262 acres (1.1 km²) of land in the northern section of Schenley Park. In 1795, the Neills moved from this house to a location in what is now Market Square in downtown Pittsburgh, before they died. After they died, the house was handed down to two different people before it was sold to General James O'Hara
James O'Hara
James O'Hara is the name of:* James O'Hara, 2nd Baron Tyrawley , British Army officer* James E. O'Hara , U.S. Representative from North Carolina* James G. O'Hara , U.S. Representative from Michigan...
. O'Hara's granddaughter, Mary Schenley, gave the property to the city of Pittsburgh in 1889. For a time, in the house was rented out by the city to vacationers. However, by 1969, the house was in such poor condition that it was dismantled and rebuilt by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation
Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation
The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1964 to support the preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA....
. It still exists and is only open for tours during the Vintage Grand Prix
Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix
Founded in 1982 and first run on September 3, 1983, the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix is a vintage motor sports car race and multi-day motorsport festival that takes place annually in mid-July in Schenley Park located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States...
in July.
Around 1820, William "Killymoon" Steward built one of the first tavern
Tavern
A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food, and in some cases, where travelers receive lodging....
/inns in the area. His tavern, located near the intersection of Beechwood and Brown's Hill Road, survived for over 100 years. Slowly, Squirrel Hill became a prosperous and affluent suburb. By the 1860s, the area along Fifth Avenue near Woodland Road had several mansions, including Willow Cottage. The cottage was built by the industrialist and civic leader Thomas M. Howe, a bank president and member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1851 to 1855. Though neglected for many years and almost torn down, Willow Cottage has recently undergone a $2.2 million restoration and renovation into a Chatham University gatehouse and guesthouse.
During the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, it was the site of a small redoubt
Redoubt
A redoubt is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, though others are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldiers outside the main defensive line and can be a permanent structure or a...
, Fort Squirrel Hill on Bigelow Street between Parade and Shields Streets, also known as Fort Chess or Fort Black.
Following the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
several of Pittsburgh's richest families built multiple houses in the Woodland Road area between Fifth and Wilkins Avenues. Prior to 1868, the Squirrel Hill area was a part of Peebles Township. This changed in 1868 when the city of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
annexed the land. In 1869, a woman's college, the predecessor to Chatham University, was established nearby. Today, Chatham University owns several of these large houses. In 1869, the clubhouse of the Pittsburgh Golf Club was built at the new Schenley Park Golf Course
Schenley Park Golf Course
Schenley Park Golf Course, renamed Bob O'Connor Golf Course at Schenley Park in 2007, is located in the rolling hills of Schenley Park between Oakland and Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It is the only golf course within the city limits....
.
Over the course of the 19th century, the focus of Squirrel Hill shifted from its riverfront at the Monongahela River
Monongahela River
The Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
to the area closest to Oakland
Oakland (Pittsburgh)
Oakland is the academic, cultural, and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and is Pennsylvania's third largest "Downtown". Only Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh can claim more economic and social activity than Oakland...
and Shadyside
Shadyside (Pittsburgh)
Shadyside is a neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It has zip codes of both 15232 and 15206, and has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by the council member for District 8...
. Former farm land such as the area known as the Murdoch Farms slowly developed as new development appeared in the area.
The growth of Squirrel Hill accelerated when an electric trolley
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
was installed in 1893. The trolley line ran via Forbes Avenue and Murray Avenue to its final destination in Homestead
Homestead, Pennsylvania
Homestead is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, in the "Mon Valley," southeast of downtown Pittsburgh and directly across the river from the city limit line. The borough is known for the Homestead Strike of 1892, an important event in the history of labor relations in the United...
. The trolley line facilitated the building of hundreds of houses for the middle management of local factories, especially on Shady and Denniston Avenues near Aylesboro. Despite its trolley line, Murray Avenue remained a dirt road until 1920. Murray Avenue carried three Pittsburgh Railways
Pittsburgh Railways
Pittsburgh Railways was one of the predecessors of the Port Authority of Allegheny County. It had 666 PCC cars, the third largest fleet in North America. It had 68 street car routes, of which only three are used by the Port Authority as light rail routes...
trolley lines (#69 Squirrel Hill, #60 East Liberty-Homestead and #68 Homestead-Duquesne-Kennywood-McKeesport) until 1958 when the trolleys were replaced by buses.
Squirrel Hill grew even more with the opening of the Boulevard of the Allies
Boulevard of the Allies
The Boulevard of the Allies is a mostly four-lane road in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, connecting Downtown Pittsburgh with the Oakland neighborhood of the city. Because of its lengthy name, locals often refer to it as simply "The Boulevard"....
in 1927, providing a direct link to downtown Pittsburgh.
By the 1930s, most of the available land in Squirrel Hill had been filled.
Author Willa Cather
Willa Cather
Willa Seibert Cather was an American author who achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, in works such as O Pioneers!, My Ántonia, and The Song of the Lark. In 1923 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours , a novel set during World War I...
briefly made Squirrel Hill her home from 1901 to 1906. Residing on Murray Hill Avenue, Cather was the telegraph (wire desk) editor and drama critic for the newspaper, Pittsburgh Leader. She taught at Central High School in nearby Uptown
Bluff (Pittsburgh)
The Bluff or Uptown is a neighborhood in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to the southeast of the city's Central Business District. It is bordered in the north by the Hill District and just a short trip across the Monongahela River is the city's South Side, which is home to a flourishing...
and later became the head of the English Department at Allegheny High School. Cather used Pittsburgh as the setting for several short stories that she wrote during her time there.
When Henry Clay Frick
Henry Clay Frick
Henry Clay Frick was an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. He founded the H. C. Frick & Company coke manufacturing company, was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company, and played a major role in the formation of the giant U.S. Steel steel manufacturing concern...
died in 1919, he bequeathed 150 acre (0.607029 km²) of undeveloped land to the City of Pittsburgh for use as a public park. He provided a $2 million trust fund to assist with the maintenance of the park. Frick Park
Frick Park
Frick Park is the largest municipal park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, covering .The park began when Henry Clay Frick, upon his death in 1919, bequeathed south of Clayton, his Point Breeze mansion . He also arranged for a $2 million trust fund for long-term maintenance for the park, which opened on...
on the eastern border of the Squirrel Hill neighborhood opened in 1927. Between 1919 and 1942, money from the trust fund was used to enlarge the park, increasing its size to almost 600 acres (2.4 km²).
In February 2004, Frick Park grew with the addition of the Nine Mile Run stream restoration area which flows to the Monongahela River
Monongahela River
The Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
. The United States Army Corps of Engineers
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...
is managing the restoration funded with $5 million in federal money and $2.7 million raised by the city.
Squirrel Hill's business area along Forbes and Murray avenues is known as "up street" (a contraction of "up the street") to several generations of children who have grown up the area over the past 40 years.
The neighborhood was the home of children's television host Fred Rogers.
Squirrel Hill is also home to the Church of the Redeemer, an inclusive and progressive Episcopal church.
Jewish community
Squirrel Hill has had a large Jewish population since the 1920s, when Eastern European Jews began to move to the neighborhoodJewish history in Pittsburgh
Jewish history of Pittsburgh, the second largest city in the state of Pennsylvania, USA and the chief city of Western Pennsylvania. According to the 2002 Pittsburgh Jewish Community Study, "Jewish households represent 3.8% of the total number of households living in Allegheny County." In 2012,...
in large numbers from Oakland
Oakland (Pittsburgh)
Oakland is the academic, cultural, and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and is Pennsylvania's third largest "Downtown". Only Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh can claim more economic and social activity than Oakland...
and the Hill District
Hill District (Pittsburgh)
The Hill District is a collection of neighborhoods that is considered by many to be the cultural center of African-American life in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an American city. Harlem Renaissance poet Claude McKay once called the district "the crossroads of the world," referring to the...
. Many of them took up residence in rows of brick houses on the cross streets of Murray Avenue south of Forbes, such as Darlington Road, Bartlett Street, and Beacon Street. The neighborhood became the center of Jewish culture in the city, with kosher butcher shops, delicatessens, Jewish restaurants, bookstores, and designer boutiques. Several hundred Russian Jewish immigrants moved to the neighborhood in the 1990s.
Today about 40% of Squirrel Hill's residents are Jewish. According to a 2002 study by the United Jewish Federation, 33% of the Jewish population of greater Pittsburgh lives in Squirrel Hill and another 14% lives in the surrounding neighborhoods. The report states that "The stability of Squirrel Hill, a geographic hub of the Jewish community located within the city limits, is unique in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
."
Most of Squirrel Hill is surrounded by a consecrated wall (an "eruv
Eruv
An Eruv is a ritual enclosure around most Orthodox Jewish and Conservative Jewish homes or communities. In such communities, an Eruv is seen to enable the carrying of objects out of doors on the Jewish Sabbath that would otherwise be forbidden by Torah law...
" using telephone poles and wires as the "wall") which permits orthodox Jews to carry things like books and push strollers on the Sabbath. The eruvs boundaries are quite irregular and contain portions of other neighborhoods as well, with one writer noting that "an Orthodox Jew could carry something within the eruvs boundaries all the way from the north end of the Hot Metal Bridge to the intersection of Wilkins and South Dallas in Point Breeze." Squirrel Hill contains three Jewish day schools, affiliated with the Chabad
Chabad
Chabad or Chabad-Lubavitch is a major branch of Hasidic Judaism.Chabad may also refer to:*Chabad-Strashelye, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism*Chabad-Kapust or Kapust, a defunct branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism...
, Modern Orthodox
Modern Orthodox Judaism
Modern Orthodox Judaism is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize Jewish values and the observance of Jewish law, with the secular, modern world....
and Conservative
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
movements respectively. There are over twenty synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
s.
The Jewish community also offers two kosher restaurant
Kosher restaurant
A kosher restaurant is an establishment that serves food that complies with Jewish dietary laws. These businesses, which also include diners, cafés, pizzarias, fast food, and cafeterias, and are frequently in listings together with kosher bakeries, butchers, caterers, and other similar places,...
s (Milky Way and Dunkin Donuts at the corner of Forbes and Shady), a Jewish Community Center
Jewish Community Center
A Jewish Community Center or Jewish Community Centre is a general recreational, social and fraternal organization serving the Jewish community in a number of cities...
, two kosher bakeries, Giant Eagle (on Beacon) and Sweet Tammy's, and an annual festival.
Education
Squirrel Hill is located in the Pittsburgh School DistrictPittsburgh Public Schools
Pittsburgh Public Schools is the public school district in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA and adjacent Mount Oliver.The combined land area of these municipalities is with a population of 342,503 according to the 2000 census. In August 2005, the superintendent became Mark Roosevelt. His tenure ends...
. The public
Public education
State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...
grade schools for the neighborhood are Colfax Accelerated Learning Academy (K-8) and Minadeo Elementary School (K-5). The public
Public education
State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...
high school for the neighborhood is Taylor Allderdice High School
Taylor Allderdice High School
Taylor Allderdice High School, also referred to by the Pittsburgh Public Schools as “Pittsburgh Allderdice” or informally by students as "Dice", is a public high school located in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh’s East End. Allderdice is the "largest of the Pittsburgh Public Schools'...
. Squirrel Hill is also home to St. Edmund's Academy, a private Episcopalian elementary school, Chatham University (bordering Shadyside
Shadyside (Pittsburgh)
Shadyside is a neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It has zip codes of both 15232 and 15206, and has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by the council member for District 8...
), and parts of Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
. H.B. Davis Elementary School closed in 1980.
Local government
Squirrel Hill North is represented on Pittsburgh City Council by Bill PedutoBill Peduto
William Peduto, Democrat, was elected to Pittsburgh City Council, District 8, in November, 2001, and to a second four-year term in 2005.In the spring primary of 2005, Peduto ran for two positions. Besides running for re-election for his council seat, Peduto was a candidate for mayor...
(City Council District 8).
Squirrel Hill South is represented on City Council by Douglas Shields
Doug Shields
Douglas A. Shields represents the 5th Council District in the City of Pittsburgh. He has served on Pittsburgh City Council since January 2004, also serving as Pittsburgh City Council President from 2008 to 2010...
(City Council District 5).
See also
- List of Pittsburgh neighborhoods
- History of PittsburghHistory of PittsburghThe history of Pittsburgh began with centuries of Native American civilization in the modern Pittsburgh region. Eventually French and British explorers encountered the strategic juncture where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers meet to form the Ohio...
- Jewish history in PittsburghJewish history in PittsburghJewish history of Pittsburgh, the second largest city in the state of Pennsylvania, USA and the chief city of Western Pennsylvania. According to the 2002 Pittsburgh Jewish Community Study, "Jewish households represent 3.8% of the total number of households living in Allegheny County." In 2012,...
- Squirrel Hill, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaSquirrel Hill, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaSquirrel Hill is a neighborhood in West Philadelphia, south of Baltimore Ave and west of Clark Park. It shares a border with the Spruce Hill and Cedar Park neighborhoods. By some accounts, this neighborhood is within the boundaries of the University City district.Squirrel Hill has the distinction...
- A smaller neighborhood with the same name in Philadelphia. - Squirrel Hill TunnelSquirrel Hill TunnelThe Squirrel Hill Tunnel is a tunnel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It serves as an eastern gateway to the city for I-376 and was completed in 1953 after 8 years of construction and at a cost of US$18 million 1953 dollars. At the time of opening it was the single largest investment...
, carries Interstate 376Interstate 376Interstate 376 is a major auxiliary route of the Interstate Highway System in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, located entirely within the Allegheny Plateau. It runs from I-80 near Sharon south and east to a junction with the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Monroeville, after having crossed the Turnpike...
under the neighborhood
Further reading
- History of the JCC Pittsburgh
- The Corner Where You Are: A Sesquicentennial History of Sixth Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh by David W. Miller
External links
- City of Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill page
- Interactive Pittsburgh Neighborhoods Map
- Squirrel Hill at Wikitravel
- Visitor's Guide to Squirrel Hill
- Historic Pittsburgh Map Collections
- 1872 - Atlas of the Cities of Pittsburgh, Allegheny and Adjoining Boroughs: Plate 12
- 1872 - Atlas of the Cities of Pittsburgh, Allegheny, and the Adjoining Boroughs: Plate 10
- 1876 - Atlas of the Cities of Pittsburgh, Allegheny, and the Adjoining Boroughs: Plate 76
- 1904 - Volume 1 - East End of Pittsburgh (South): Wards 13, 14, 22, and 23
- 1923 - Volume 2 - East End (South): Wards 7 and 14–15
- 1939 - Volume 2 - East End (South): Wards 7, 14 and 15